


I Hired a Butler, Not a Bodyguard

by Kaatyr



Series: Leopika AUs [3]
Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Alternate Universe - Butler, Audio Format: MP3, Gen, One Shot, Podfic Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26352712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaatyr/pseuds/Kaatyr
Summary: “What the hell?” he demanded, a little louder than he’d intended. “Why do you have a gun?”An unexpected event leads Leorio to reevaluate his butler, Kurapika.
Relationships: Kurapika & Leorio Paladiknight
Series: Leopika AUs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1912081
Kudos: 33





	I Hired a Butler, Not a Bodyguard

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is available in audio form for those who would prefer to listen rather than read. Please note that this is a text to speech recording, which means that there may be some issues with it.
> 
> [Stream or download MP3 from Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/file/d/14yoMddXL2z-Mp_Rn8qrjbORXfWif1FBJ/view?usp=sharing)

Leorio hated charity functions. Not the ‘charity’ part, of course. Just the ‘function’ part. He always felt as if he didn’t belong among the wealthy attendees. He was just a doctor. A well-respected and fairly well-off doctor, but still just a doctor. His focus was on treating his patients. Everything that came with that, like getting funding for the clinic he worked at, was someone else’s problem.

Until that ‘someone else’ made it his problem. Cheadle had insisted that he attend charity functions from time to time. She’d said that having an actual doctor there to remind those wealthy patrons that the function was about more than fancy food and idle chit-chat was worth inconveniencing an employee.

Leorio was her favourite victim. He suspected that it had something to do with how good he looked in a suit. There couldn’t be any other reason for why Cheadle singled him out so much. She wasn’t the sort of person to take pleasure or amusement from someone else’s discomfort—unlike some blonds Leorio knew.

“Thank God,” Leorio muttered to the blond man who held the door of the black car open for him. The car was nothing fancy, not a limousine like many of the other cars there. Leorio thought that an expensive car was a waste of money. He’d settle for a decent-looking, reliable car that could squeeze into an average parking spot.

But the black-suited, blank-faced butler waiting for him wasn’t a waste of money. Kurapika was indispensable. He took care of Leorio’s day-to-day chores, allowing Leorio to concentrate on his job. Every single cent dropped into Kurapika’s bank account was money well spent.

Kurapika’s expressionless face broke for the barest moment as he struggled to suppress a smile at Leorio’s drained state. He was well aware that Leorio hated these functions and took perverse amusement from that knowledge. If Kurapika weren’t so good at his job, Leorio might have considered firing him for his personality alone. Being told that his teashades were ‘tacky’ had stung a bit.

Kurapika did have a sweet side, though. The main problem was that he tended to make snap judgements. Thankfully, Kurapika’s professionalism kept him from sharing too many of those snap judgements with his boss.

Leorio was about to slide into the passenger seat when he heard Kurapika say something. Leorio didn’t catch what was said, as it was short and low, but he did notice Kurapika shifting to look down the street, as if something had caught his attention. Leorio straightened to look, too.

—And a loud noise broke the air. At the same time, Leorio felt something weighty hit him. He landed on the concrete, shoulder hitting the uncompromising ground with a jolt of pain.

For a moment, Leorio couldn’t figure out what had happened. He’d heard the sharp, loud sound, but his brain was still processing it, even as he lay on the concrete. Dimly, he heard the startled shouts of people in the distance.

Kurapika’s weight rested awkwardly on Leorio, obviously the cause behind his sudden fall. Leorio wouldn’t have credited the slim, short blond with that kind of tackling ability. All he could see of Kurapika was his soft, blond hair and his swinging earring.

“What?” Leorio asked breathlessly.

Kurapika turned his face to Leorio, his expression tense. “Stay here,” he said, then he moved off Leorio with a grace that Leorio knew he couldn’t match with (or without) his aching shoulder. Kurapika remained crouching, eyes scanning intently down the street. He reached beneath his suit jacket and pulled out a gun.

Leorio, who had moved into a position that took the pressure off his shoulder, stared in astonishment and alarm at the black pistol as Kurapika removed the safety.

“What the hell?” he demanded, a little louder than he’d intended. “Why do you have a gun?”

That definitely wasn’t in the job requirements. It was also illegal. Sensible people carried knives, in Leorio’s opinion. Sure, knives required close quarters, but carrying a gun automatically got you arrested, unlike carrying a knife.

Kurapika looked at Leorio as if he was an idiot. “Someone just shot at you,” he pointed out darkly, “And you’re more worried about the gun in _my_ hand?”

“Wait. Someone shot at me?” Leorio asked. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, he started to get up.

Kurapika shoved him mercilessly, causing Leorio to lose his precarious balance and land on his ass on the sidewalk again.

“Stay here,” he repeated. “I’ll go after them.”

Leorio never got a chance to point out how stupid that was. The gunman had probably already fled. Kurapika had wasted too much time with Leorio.

But Kurapika was already moving with a cat’s grace down the street. Seconds later, a man Leorio vaguely recognised from the charity function was kneeling beside him, asking if he was all right. Leorio muttered something like, “Sure,” before letting the man help him to his feet.

Kurapika had vanished. All Leorio could do was wait until he came back. He had no intention of getting law enforcement involved yet—not while Kurapika was still out there carrying that gun in open sight. The police might mistake Kurapika for the culprit.

A rather irrational thought circled in his mind. He’d hired a butler, not a bodyguard. Just who was Kurapika—and why had someone tried to shoot Leorio?

Unless they’d actually been aiming for Kurapika and Kurapika hadn’t wanted Leorio to know that.

Leorio wasn’t sure which possibility was worse. That someone hated him enough to try to kill him—or that his butler was involved in something shady that had now bled over into Leorio’s life.


End file.
